My imminent concern is that it seems like increasing numbers of people can’t read anything more complicated than a tweet. Do we end up with a tiny group of people who can seriously read and write, just communicating with each other? I think we had something like that several centuries ago? Is this whole “universal literacy” concept just doomed?
Writes and Write-Nots
111–120 of 158 posts
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#112>in a couple decades there won't be many people who can write seems quite wrong to me. If anything the trend seems to go the other way - when I was younger pre internet most communication was face to face or voice over the phone. Now the predominant thing seems text - sms, whatsapp, this text box I'm typing into now. I saw a stat the other day that online / app dating had gone from a minority to over 50% of how coupl…
The issue with the modern internet is that it's primarily used for communication (via short writing), often resulting in poorly written messages. Animals communicate through sounds, but this doesn't mean they can talk. I agree with PG on this point and have noticed that people around me are often surprised when they receive well-written wsapp/sms messages that include proper punctuation and other linguistic markers.…
Which is still massively more then amount of writing people did pre-internet.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#113I think of writing as similar to a linear extension of a partial order. Your brain doesn't think a single letter at a time, instead, all of your neurons are doing neuron things all at the same time. But writing is linear. This forces order and I think is partially responsible for the "clear thinking" ascribed to writing! Hopefully I'll live the couple of decades to find out if PG's prediction is correct, I would bet…
Reading is linear. Writing is not.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#114I think this is a bit too simple. Some people might be good at thinking (e.g. in math) but bad at writing. AI can just help them to do their job better. I am for example very good at math and reasoning etc. But when I write something I tend to construct long complicated sentences (probably because I think that way^^) and the result whould often be considered badly written. Now of course you can feel superiour, for yo…
For what it’s worth, I don’t think “reasoning” and “conveying that reasoning via writing” are quite as siloed as you suggest. Many people write long and complicated sentences in a first draft, but it is the subsequent drafts where that initial block of mental marble is carved and honed into a compelling argument. I believe it is in fact that very act of redrafting — seeing one’s work through the eyes of others — that…
Imo, they just don't lead to more actually clarity inside my brain. They are just a lot of work on top of it.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That writing is the only way to do deep, clear, thinking simply isn't true. You're correct here. > Stephen Hawking is the first example that comes to mind. The post is obviously speaking of the general population or at best average professional, and in my opinion choosing one of the most brilliant exceptional scientific minds of our lifetimes is not a good counterargument for a piece that speaks of a potential prob…
As someone who teaches PhD students who are quite far beyond "average professional", I concur completely with PG on this one. Writing forces you to make very clear and concrete ideas that feel like they make sense but are still fuzzy. It's certainly not the only way, but it's the most common and easy way.
To use an overextended computer metaphor: serializing data structures to a wire format forces lazy evaluation, turning up any errors that were previously hidden by laziness.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#116I write software that solves hard problems and makes money. I am very good at it. Computers do what I tell them, and people are happy.
The biggest obstacle to my job is when I need to convince other people of a course of action. People do not do what I ask of them, because people need a nice narrative. Indeed the reaction of others to my writing is so negative I can get into disciplinary proceedings just for writing facts. Yet, when the shit hits the fan, and people need a leader and a plan, suddenly people do what I ask and are successful, presumably looking past my communication issues because of the imminent and larger threat.
I am Autistic. I look forward to the day when my email and slack client, my JIRA client, automatically take my statements of fact and turn them into something neurotypical people won’t have a social signaling reaction to and respond to as a threat.
Also, thinking can also be doing.
And while I’m here, there’s plenty of people who can write and not think. And more who cannot think critically. Electrolytes: it’s got what plants crave.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#117> I'm usually reluctant to make predictions about technology, but I feel fairly confident about this one It's interesting to be usually cautious but then predict something so radical, and yet with no real argument other than "AI is gonna replace us". Painting should have been replaced by photography, but it hasn't been. In my opinion, there are still plenty of people who want to write, so there will still be plenty o…
I'm not a photographer, but a musician. I won't say that musicians have been replaced by automation, but the ability of someone to earn a living from their abilities as a musician has been eroded considerably over the past century. The preservation and advancement of many musical styles is occurring primarily in living rooms, or is performed for tiny audiences of enthusiasts. I'm happy to help keep jazz alive in that way.
Writing may become the same thing. In the workplace, if someone is writing, they're probably doing it for their own entertainment. Some people write at home, writing journals, blogs, etc. Nobody will know that you're writing, unless it affects your thinking, and your thinking affects your work.
I think we already reached the stage where people stopped writing, before AI entered the picture. I rarely see anybody write a lengthy report any more. Reports have been replaced by PowerPoint, chat, e-mail, etc. One consequence is that knowledge is quickly lost. Or, it's developed by writing, but is communicated verbally.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#118This would be better differentiated by one’s ability to express rather than to write. Of course, a person who knows how to read as well as how to express an idea will do fine with writing as a means of expression but one can also express an idea orally and use that oration to refine their idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
As a person who frequently uses writing to focus my thoughts, I don’t see why one would see writing as the only way to focus their thoughts.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#119For awhile, I'd guess there will be requirements to work through a thinking&writing task by oneself.
But already there's a large number of people cheating at those tasks.
So, we could also say we'll have the Thinkers and the Cheaters.
Sadly, I don't expect the Thinkers to be the Haves.
Re: Writes and Write-Nots
#120I like and believe too the notion that writing IS thinking and that cultivating this skill helps you form clearer thoughts. One question about this: I'm trying to engage more and more in writing for this reason, but I seem often not to know what to write about. For example, as PG has a lot of experience when it comes to startups, I feel I don't have as much knowledge to share, or if I have some opinion, I don't feel…
Just get going. Quoting https://randsinrepose.com/archives/your-writing/ : * Less than 1% of your writing will be life-changing. * 3% will be trivial to write. * 4% will strongly resonate with others in a way you didn’t expect. * 5% will be quite good. * 15% probably should’ve never been published. * 26% will elicit a reaction you did not expect. Positive or negative. * 28% will become vastly better because you chose…
And when numbers are just rethorical devices you can pull them out of thin air.